This invention is directed to garden hoses and other water hoses that may be used for carrying water under pressure, for home, commercial or industrial use, including gardening, washing, or spraying of articles or surfaces.
The object of the present invention is to provide a water hose with a spiral guard strip, i.e., an outer coil, with the hose having characteristics of kink resistance, burst resistance, abrasion resistance, high flow rate in use so that it can be used for washing or rinsing vehicles or pavement if need be, and sufficient flexibility so that it can be easily wound up by hand onto a hose reel.
The hose needs to satisfy a target flow rate of 3.2 gallons per minute or better for use in washing a vehicle, and if possible to satisfy a flow rate of 5.2 gallons per minute (minimum) for washing pavement. The hose must pass a burst test at 150 psi or higher, i.e., without delaminating or undue stretching. Also, the hose must have sufficient crush resistance for a commercial vehicle to drive over it without damaging the hose. Also, the hose has to be durable and resistant to scuffing, scratching, or cutting when dragged over rough pavement, and must be flexible enough so that it can be pulled around stationary objects.
There have been previous attempts to make a hose more resistant to kink, crush and burst by incorporating a spiral or helical reinforcement strip into the outer tubular layer of the hose. This construction has made the hose unduly stiff in some cases because the embedded helix lacks the ability to flex freely. Also this construction has required a reduction in the inner tubular layers. Moreover, the outer cover layer is unprotected from scratching and abrasion when the hose is dragged. In addition, the prior art hoses have made no special effort to improve the end connectors and they remain prone to crushing. Also, the end connectors conventionally used in these hoses create a narrowing restriction at the ends of the hose which can restrict water flow.